Redistricting School Board Seats

What is Redistricting?                                                                                                                                              

Every 10 years states and local government bodies, such as school districts, counties and municipalities, use new census data to determine whether they have to redraw their district lines to reflect how local populations have changed and to make sure each district is substantially equal in population, as required under the one person, one vote principle of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This process, called Redistricting, is important in ensuring that each board member represents about the same number of constituents. Rankin County School District (RCSD) through its five-member Board of Education is responsible for drawing substantially equally populated districts using 2020 U.S. Census data that was received in August 2021 from the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Why does Redistricting matter to me?                                                                                                                     

The census data needed to balance population between districts is the primary data used, but other criteria must also be considered, such as (1) compliance with the Voting Rights Act to ensure that minority voters have an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, and (2) traditional districting principles that include geographical compactness of districts, contiguity of districts, keeping communities of interest intact, respect for existing incumbents and keeping boundaries of precincts intact to the extent possible. Communities of interest are generally a geographically contiguous community that shares common social and economic interests. Traditional examples include neighborhoods, school districts, service areas for fire districts, or business or commercial districts. These require some local knowledge of the Rankin County School District and its residents. To this end, we rely on you, our citizens, to provide and help identify this information. Redistricting matters to you, because it determines which local neighborhoods and communities are grouped together into a district for purposes of electing a school board member and trustee. Easily identifiable boundaries should be drawn in a way that minimizes its division, and boundaries shall not be drawn for the purpose of favoring or discriminating against a political party.

How will our RCSD Board of Education notify the public about Redistricting?                                                            

The RCSD Board of Education will make a good faith effort to notify the public about meetings and public hearings on redistricting, and will reach out to local media, newspapers, district website, social media outlets, and districts mass communication system about the Redistricting process. Board meetings are public and have all the attributes of public hearings under the Mississippi Open Meetings Law, Miss. Code Ann. §§25-41-1 et seq (1976) as amended, and all citizens and members of the public will have a full, open and equal opportunity to attend, participate and provide input, and will have access to maps that will be posted online on the RCSD website and in the RCSD Office at 1220 Apple Park Place, Brandon, Mississippi 39042, before adoption.

Public Comment encouraged                                                                                                                                        

Public comment is strongly encouraged and can be sent to RCSD through email to RCSD’s Redistricting Website at rcsd-redistricting@rcsd.ms, and equally, the general public can always offer comments by mail as well as in person and during the public comment section of  RCSD’s regular monthly meetings held at the RCSD Office in Brandon, Mississippi at its above address, 1220 Apple Park Place, Brandon, Mississippi 39042.